New To Programming, help?

I was thinking of taking some intro classes at the local college...I pretty much have "IT" in general down but have little to no experience coding any kind of applications. I would prefer learning C, then moving up to C++ and C#.

Outside of classroom training (online classes would be nice if anyone knows), what's the best way to start from scratch, also what should I code on? I want to jump right in and code stuff that displays on some console. I have access to pretty much any console I want to test something on.

Thanks!

 

You really don't want to start on a game console if you don't even know a programming language yet. Just pick up a development environment for your PC and start by writing some text-mode programs. That'll let you get started the fastest without having to know the implementation/hardware/API details of any particular platform.

 

Personally, I would recommend putting C/C++ on the backburner. Go with C# by downloading VS 2010(the free one, I forgot the formal name). This will give you I nice intro into modern programming languages, plus it connects well with XBox 360 if you want to do some game dev down the road.

Here are books I recommend for C#(what I'm using for my job, since I'm still pretty new to it, but I have other experience with Java):

http://tinyurl.com/23326ty

http://tinyurl.com/2d89cld

http://tinyurl.com/258fbdo

 

I have an active MSDN subscription so I have access to all the MS software...

EDIT: Checked those books out, they seem to be geared towards people who understand that type of stuff already.

 

I would actually suggest the exact opposite of this. C/C++ are the industry standards right now, and they are portable to almost every platform under the sun. Plus, the multitude of available libraries are designed specifically with C/C++ in mind. For resources, I'd suggest grabbing the book (OMG A BOOK, A PHYSICAL BOOK!!!) "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie for the C aspects (which are best to learn first), then reading the http://www.cplusplus.com/ tutorials in order to hone your C skills and learn the OOP side of C++.

 

If you are an absolute newbie to programming I suggest learning a simple language such as python, then moving on to the hardstuff like C++. That's what I did and it's worked for me

 

I was going to post in a new thread but thought this thread was fitting.

I'm also new to programming, I want to start writing for the CD-i system. With the intention of porting over some old games like Discworld, Sim City etc to the format.

I'm a DBA so used to writing code, but have no clue to writing games and not sure where to start.

Would following the same advise as above be best for me considering I'd be porting games that already exist to another older system?

Thanks in advance.

 

If you have access to a Mac, or can run OS X in a virtual machine. I recommend taking a look at the iPhone SDK, there are plentiful examples, resources and books. It's a great SDk and you can get visual results straight away.

It uses Objective-C and NEXTStep.

 

Well I would recommend the path we had at the university which was starting with Pascal to get a hang of structured programming and the basics of programming in general (variables, constants, procedures, functions, pointers, loops, etc) then moving on to Modula-2, to get the hang of programming in modules, and then on to structured C++ and once you master that, get on to object oriented C++.

 

Thanks for the advice guys...

I'm checking out Pascal now (following the lessons on http://pascalprogramming.byethost15.com/index.php i'm not sure if the site's any good).

Does anybody have experience programming for the CD-i? will it be a easy transition from the examples given before?

 

I like Java programming very much. You have very good IDEs (eclipse or NetBeens) and many options to grow up your skills. For example you can build scripts with groovy (very cool script language using java lib http://groovy.codehaus.org/) or use Android SDK for mobile devices.
And the best of it, anything is complete free without licence (sorry apple / MS ^^). Keep in mind what you want to develop.
But i think OOP languages are a good basic today.

 

Just go with C. While all these other languages are getting some exposure and may have academic appeal, they're useless for embedded systems including console games. Learning another language now probably won't give you any better insight when learning C later and in some cases will be detrimental if you really buy into a lot of rhetoric.

 

Thanks for the input...

It seems along way off before I can look at source code and understand how to re-programme it to run on another console after watching this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIMhspJzC34

Is there actually much to taking a source code from say a PC game (Example Beneath A Steel Sky) and converting it to run on a system such as CD-i?

Is it just a matter of understanding the logic and going from there? Feel a bit in the dark with it all.

 

" I want to jump right in and code stuff that displays on some console."

If you want to do that, check out BasiEgaXorz for the Genesis. Incredibly easy to get something displayed on the screen, plus it's all in Basic, which is the simplest language you can learn. It's a nice introduction I think, though I'm a complete newbie at programming too and am having a hell of a time trying to set up a proper working camera that follows my sprite onscreen.

 

You are a long way off, that's just how it is. First you need a strong handle on programming concepts and logic, then learn to apply them in order to implement a game, then understand how the back end works (graphics libraries or console hardware) in order to implement a real-time game under the constraints of your platform.

Yes, probably more than you can imagine now. The game logic is very important, but logic is logic for the most part. The difficulty will be adapting audio and video resources for your target and reworking the underlying code to interface with it, while trying to match the performance of the original game and meet your memory allotment.

I don't think BASIC is any more basic than C, it's just older and far more limited. IMO the syntax is horrible and hard to read, especially unstructured BASIC which is what old computers and consoles will run. Learning BASIC as a first language will mean unlearning 75% of it later, unless you want to move into business software.

For a second language I would choose Python, a popular and powerful interpreted language, it's extremely convenient for writing tools and processing data.

 

I would reccomend C++ for dummies,
I'm studying it myself and for the first time I get what they mean in those books.
It's not a hard language (C++), but actualy learning to program is the hardest.

btw. Why is C so much better than C++, when it calculates less good then C++. (Or so I heard)

 

Having a problem myself in this area now.

Give me an engine and sufficient motivation and I may work wonders with the script.

The problem is now a friend has asked if I could make something really simple for him. I'd like to say yes, but as I do not understand C, C++ or for his particular need, Objective-C I'm not of much use to him at present.

A lack of language knowledge has not been a problem in the past when I've had a passion for a project I don't read the manuals and just figure it out by tweaking bits and bobs and seeing what happens. I hacked games with hexadecimal codes without any training, computer or coders cables. I just observed patterns or trends in existing code and with a pen, paper, passion and trial & error I bent some games to my will.

One of the main problems here is I'll

a) have to start from scratch (normally I just pimp/reverse engineer)
b) dispite my desire to help my friend I have insufficient motivation
c) my concentration now is a complete and utter sack of shit. As such no matter how hard I try to learn or read for this project I'll become distracted at every step of the way. The irony is if I don't try I absorb a LOT more...

If I was in the mood I'd bend the heavens to make my code work. As I'm not I need to do it the old fashioned way.

People have mentioned what are probably decent resources here but are there any resourcs to help us autistic/attention defecit then later brain damaged types get to grips with the basics? More than anything though I'd need prompting to stay on track =/

 

Well what could work for you would be to start with some short excercises / small programs in something easy like say Javascript (not actually a language, but more of a meta-language), or go for something along the same lines in Pascal or Python.

Thing is, when it gets to more complex things such as game programming, you will be working with TONS of files, classes, and libraries, so you need to be focused mainly when looking for bugs or compiling errors (even though the IDEs point them out for you).

 

Excellent advice everyone, thanks to everyone for there input

 

Hate to bump a relatively old thread, but it seems to make more sense than making a new topic.

Where do people recommend a person who has never programmed a line of code in their life should start?